A bulldozer moves snow from Hawthorne Ave. in Derby, Conn. into a dump truck to be carted away Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

A bulldozer moves snow from Hawthorne Ave. in Derby, Conn. into a...

A bulldozer moves snow from Hawthorne Ave. in Derby, Conn. into a dump truck to be carted away Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

A bulldozer moves snow from Hawthorne Ave. in Derby, Conn. into a...

A bulldozer moves snow from Hawthorne Ave. in Derby, Conn. into a dump truck to be carted away Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

A bulldozer moves snow from Hawthorne Ave. in Derby, Conn. into a...

Dump trucks empty their loads of snow near the Riverwalk in Derby, Conn. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

Dump trucks empty their loads of snow near the Riverwalk in Derby,...

A dump truck empties its load of snow near the Riverwalk in Derby, Conn. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

A dump truck empties its load of snow near the Riverwalk in Derby,...

Kenny Pettway works to shovel out his driveway in Bridgeport, Conn. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

Kenny Pettway works to shovel out his driveway in Bridgeport, Conn....

Richard Ostaszeski shovels his driveway Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 in Seymour, Conn. Ostaszeski recently broke his hip and was advised not to do any heavy lifting but needed to get to his car.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

Richard Ostaszeski shovels his driveway Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 in...

The Staples store in Shelton, Conn was evacuated Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 because of a potential roof collapse following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet of snow across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

The Staples store in Shelton, Conn was evacuated Tuesday, Feb. 12,...

The Staples store in Shelton, Conn was evacuated Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 because of a potential roof collapse following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet of snow across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

The Staples store in Shelton, Conn was evacuated Tuesday, Feb. 12,...

The Staples store in Shelton, Conn was evacuated Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 because of a potential roof collapse following a weekend storm that dumped up to 3 feet of snow across the state.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll

Isaura Pimental, left, and Eddie Perez, both of Bridgeport, use a hammer and shovel to hack away at ice outside their residence on Barnum Avenue in Bridgeport, Conn. on February 12, 2013.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

Brandon LaMontagne, 19, of Danbury, trudges through the snow on a sidewalk near the highway overpass on North Street, in Danbury, Conn., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013. A blizzard dumped almost 2 feet of snow on the Danbury area last Friday and Saturday.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

Antonio Lourenco uses a snowblower to clear a walk near the North Street Shopping Center in Danbury, Conn. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013.
A blizzard dumped almost 2 feet of snow on the area late last weekend.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

Four days into the dig-out and the city of Bridgeport -- with the help of the National Guard and borrowed pay loaders -- has managed to clear a path through one third of it roadways.

Six hundred more streets to go, and more snow is on the way.

"I know until your street is plowed it really doesn't matter to you whether all the other streets are plowed," Mayor Bill Finch said Tuesday from the city's emergency operations center. "But we do have a system. By tomorrow we believe 300 streets will be cleared."

Despite the effort, city schools remain closed on Wednesday and Finch said it is hard to imagined they will be in shape to open on Thursday.

Schools also continue to be closed Wednesday in Milford, Shelton and Stratford.

Most area colleges, meanwhile were poised to reopen Wednesday as road conditions on major highways improved and Metro North began close to regular service on the New Haven Line to/from South Norwalk. As of Tuesday 75 percent of the morning peak-travel trains between those cities will be operating. Everything south of South Norwalk -- including the New Canaan and Danbury branch lines -- was running on a normal peak-morning schedule.

In Bridgeport, three deaths have been blamed on the storm that brought more snow than the city has seen since the Blizzard of 1888, Finch said.

In Milford, one of the three pedestrians injured after being struck by a car while walking Monday on Bridgeport Avenue was released Tuesday from Bridgeport Hospital. A hospital spokesperson said the other two victims remained in critical condition at the hospital. None of the victims' names were available Tuesday.

Finch blamed Bridgeport's woes on the volume of the snow for making the cleanup a painstaking process.

"The equipment we have was prepared for this amount of snow," he said. "The good news is we have really dramatically increased the number of pay loaders that we have."

The administration has acknowledged that snowplows were off the road for three hours at the height of the blizzard's white-out Friday during the rush hour exodus, but said no city workers were sent home.

The city borrowed pay loaders from Danbury, Wilton, Greenwich and Buffalo and is looking for more.

Ted Grabarz, the city's deputy director of public facilities said in all, there are about 100 pieces of equipment being used to clear the snow. In addition to 25 additional pay loaders, the city now has five snow melting machines and 12 tri-acle trucks.

"Because there is so much snow, we can't just plow it out of the way. We need to pick it up and haul it away," he said. "By the end of the week, absent any other significant snow, we can move from a street clearing to snow removal operation."

But therein lies the rub.

Bridgeport Emergency Management Director Scott Appleby said another storm is headed this way and could cover the area with another 3 to 5 inches of snow Wednesday evening. In addition, there is a possibility of another storm over the weekend.

Finch said with more snow removal equipment than ever already on the streets, he said he is relatively confident the new storm can be handled even as the city works on the first one. He continued to urge residents to stay off the streets.

He asked residents and business owners to remain patient.

Meanwhile, frustrated Bridgeport residents in neighborhoods around the city are taking matters into their own hands. Residents on Seeley, off Park Avenue, are shoveling the street themselves to break free, along with residents of many other neighborhoods.

In the Valley, the heavy snow pack caused two buildings to become compromised Tuesday. One was a building in the Fox Hollow industrial park in Oxford and the other the Staples and Citi Bank building in Shelton.

The buildings were evacuated as a precaution, officials said. In Shelton, police said part of the roof bowed in and is being inspected by the city building inspector.

In Bridgeport, Finch said city schools may not reopen until all streets around them can be liberated. He said he would like to open schools next week, which is a scheduled winter break.

"If we can, we will," he said. The administration has acknowledged plows were off the road for three hours at the height of the blizzard's white out, but no workers were sent home.

Some city teachers say they have been surveyed by the district to see if they would be willing to work next week. Some said they have non-refundable vacation plans; others said they would rather work next week than sacrifice April vacation week.

In addition to keeping schools closed, Bridgeport City Hall will remain shuttered on Wednesday, as well as the Bridgeport Health Department.

Garbage and recycling pickups are suspended until further notice and the Transfer Station will be closed on Wednesday.